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“This recipe came from necessity. I needed a dessert for a catering job that was Christmas themed and gluten free, so I adapted my mud-cake recipe to include some Christmas flavours. The result was a super moist cake that works brilliantly as a warm dessert served with ice cream or custard and a hearty cake for your Christmas celebrations. If you don’t need it gluten free then substitute regular flour. For the dessert cake I slightly undercook it so it is still fudge and moist inside. Enjoy”

Ingredients

375g dark chocolate

250g butter

600ml water (or red wine)

300g almond meal

200g gluten free self raising flour

400g dark sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp mixed spice

150 chopped walnuts or almonds

5 eggs

1kg Christmas mince (Recipe on “Christmas Mince Pies” post)

Method

Place chocolate, butter and water (or red wine) in a saucepan and bring to a medium heat, stirring occasionally until all ingredients are melted and combined. Allow to cool.

Combine in a mixing bowl the almond meal, GF flour, sugar and spices.

Beat the eggs and mix into the cooled chocolate mixture.

Add the Christmas mince to the chocolate mixture and stir through.

Pour the chocolate mixture and the nuts into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Pour into a large flat lined dish or several smaller ones. I use one that is 35cm by 24cm. If you try to use a traditional cake pan it will take ages to cook and burn around the edges. You want the cake to be about 4cm tall (It won’t rise much at all)

Bake in a 180 degree C oven for 45 minutes or until just set. As long as there’s no movement in the cake when you move it and a skewer comes out relatively clean it should be fine.

Allow to cool in the pan in the fridge before turning out and cutting.

“This is one of the most popular cakes I’ve made in ages. The recipe I adapted seemed too weird not to try it, but the combination of soft sweet potato and white chocolate makes for an amazing texture. I also love the rustic drizzle of the warm ganache flavoured with apricot jam. Very Moorish! Enjoy”

(Photo by Gary Donald Corbett)

Ingredients

For the cake

400g peeled sweet potato

300g white chocolate

230g butter

300g dark brown sugar

100g golden syrup or molasses

3 eggs

100g Greek yoghurt

2 tsp vanilla essence

375g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

For the ganache

100g cream

150g white chocolate

70g apricot jam

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Peel the sweet potato and cut into 2cm cubes. Place in a steamer for 15 minutes or until the sweet potato is soft. Remove from steamer and allow to cool.

Melt the butter and white chocolate over a low heat, stirring regularly until combined. Allow to cool.

In a mixer beat the eggs, sugar and golden syrup until combined.

Add the yoghurt and vanilla and beat until combined.

Mash the sweet potato or process in a food processor until no lumps remain.

Add sweet potato to wet ingredients and beat until combined.

Add the flour and baking powder to wet ingredients and stir through until combined.

Grease and line a 25-30cm springform pan. Pour in cake batter and bake for 40-50 minutes. I found I needed to cover the cake with aluminium foil for the last 15 minutes to prevent burning the top.

Remove cake from oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from the cake tin.

For the ganache

Bring the cream to a light simmer and add the jam. Stir or whisk until the jam has dissolved into the cream. Add the white chocolate and stir until smooth. You may need to put the pan back on a low heat if the cream has cooled down too much.

Allow the ganache to cool slightly. While the ganache is still runny our slowly over the cake. I applied a thin layer first and allowed it to cool on the cake before drizzling the rest over.

“In an attempt to find a good white chocolate brownie recipe and use up a surplus of lemons I ended up with a delicious combination I’ve called “Lemon Lemonies”. It took three attempts to get the combination right, but the final one has the moist consistency of a brownie and a tangy kick from the lemons. And they’re gluten-free! Great for a morning tea with a cup of English Breakfast tea with a slice of lemon. Enjoy!”

Ingredients

340g white chocolate

340g butter

5 eggs

300g sugar

Rind and juice from 2 lemons

Pinch of salt

215g almond meal

135g slivered almonds

50g extra white chocolate for decoration

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line and grease a 20cm brownie tin.

Melt the white chocolate and butter in a saucepan then leave to cool for 20 minutes.

Beat the eggs and sugar until combined then add the lemon rind and juice.

Fold in the salt, almond meal and slivered almonds.

Transfer to brownie tin and smooth the top.

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the top is lightly brown and cake is cooked through. It should still be a little moist when you take it out and will firm up once it’s cooled.

Once cooled melt 50g of white chocolate in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring between each. Put in a piping bag or sandwich bag and cut a small hole in the corner. Pipe the white chocolate onto the lemon lemonies.

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Hello, my name is Craig.

Craig Allister Young is a cellist, orchestrator, arranger, singer and song-writer who works with the QLD Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane.
Over the past 20 years he has orchestrated music for most of the major orchestras in Australia, composed music for the Sydney 2000 Olympics,
toured a cabaret ensemble around QLD and for the past three years has been a musical director and cellist for the QLD ballet. His passion for cooking
saw him embark on his latest adventure as a top 24 contestant in the hugely popular TV sensation Australian Masterchef 2011. It is from this that the idea of
"Musical Menus" materialised as a way of combining his love for music with his passion for creating imaginative culinary dishes. Bon Appetite!